Virtual Function Boot In Single-Root and Multi-Root I/O Virtualization Environments

ABSTRACT

A method for virtual function boot in a system including a single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) enabled server includes loading a PF driver of the PF of a storage adapter onto the server utilizing the virtual machine manager of the server; creating a plurality of virtual functions utilizing the PF driver, detecting each of the virtual functions on an interconnection bus, maintaining a boot list associated with the plurality of virtual functions, querying the storage adapter for the boot list utilizing a VMBIOS associated with the plurality of VMs, presenting the detected boot list to a VM boot manager of the VMM, and booting each of the plurality of virtual machines utilizing each of the virtual functions, wherein each VF of the plurality of VFs is assigned to a VM of the plurality of VMs via an interconnect passthrough between the VMM and the plurality of VMs.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is related to and claims the benefit of theearliest available effective filing date(s) from the following listedapplication(s) (the “Related Applications”) (e.g., claims earliestavailable priority dates for other than provisional patent applicationsor claims benefits under 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patentapplications, for any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of the Related Application(s)).

RELATED APPLICATIONS

-   -   For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a divisional patent application        of United States Non-Provisional patent application entitled        VIRTUAL FUNCTION BOOT IN MULTI-ROOT I/O VIRTUALIZATION        ENVIRONMENTS TO ENABLE MULTIPLE SERVERS TO SHARE VIRTUAL        FUNCTIONS OF A STORAGE ADAPTER THROUGH A MR-IOV SWITCH, naming        Parag R. Maharana as inventor, filed on Oct. 6, 2011,        application Ser. No. 13/267,646, which constitutes a regular        (non-provisional) application of United States Provisional        patent application entitled MEGARAID-SRIOV/MRIOV, naming        Parag R. Maharana as inventor, filed Oct. 26, 2010, Application        Ser. No. 61/406,601. All of the above-named applications are        incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to single-root and multi-rootI/O virtualization in computer based systems and more particularly tovirtual function boot single-root and multi-root I/O virtualizationenvironments.

BACKGROUND

Single-root input/output virtualization (SR-IOV) and multi-rootinput/output (MR-IOV) specifications allow for a single PCIe device toappear as multiple separate PCIe devices. In this sense, a physicaldevice having SR-IOV capabilities may be configured to appear in the PCIconfiguration space as multiple functions. For example, SR-IOV operatesby introducing the concept of physical functions (PF) and virtualfunctions (VFs). In a general sense, physical functions arefull-featured functions associated with the PCIe device. Virtualfunctions, however, represent less than simple functions that lackconfiguration resources and only process I/O, wherein each physicalfunction is derived from a physical function. It is further known in theart that virtual functions may be assigned to guest hosts, commonlyreferred to as virtual machines. FIG. 1 represents a block diagram viewof an SR-IOV system 100 known in the art. The system 100 includes aphysical server 102 configured to operate a host OS 106 and host GuestOS₀ through Guest Host OS₁₅, labeled as 108 a and 108 b respectively.The system 100 may further include a SAS controller with associatedphysical function PF₀ 110 and virtual functions VF₁ 112 a through VF₁₆112 b. The physical function, the multiple guest hosts, and the multiplevirtual functions may include a variety of communication and mappingfeatures as illustrated in FIG. 1. In a general sense, SR-IOV is thevirtualization of the PCIe bus enabling single physical instances of anycontroller to appear as 16 to 32 virtual controllers.

SUMMARY

A method for virtual function boot in a system including a single-rootI/O virtualization (SR-IOV) enabled server configured to implement aplurality of virtual machines (VMs) and a virtual machine manager (VMM)and a storage adapter including at least one physical function (PF) andconfigured to implement a plurality of virtual functions, wherein theSR-IOV enabled server and the physical storage adapter arecommunicatively couplable, is disclosed. In one aspect, a method mayinclude, but is not limited to, upon interconnection of the storageadapter with the SR-IOV enabled server and boot of the SR-IOV enabledserver and storage adapter, loading a PF driver of the PF of the storageadapter onto the SR-IOV enabled server utilizing the virtual machinemanager of the SR-IOV enable server; creating a plurality of virtualfunctions utilizing the PF driver; detecting each of the plurality ofvirtual functions on an interconnection bus utilizing the VMM;maintaining a boot list associated with the plurality of virtualfunctions; querying the storage adapter for the boot list associatedwith the plurality of virtual functions utilizing a VMBIOS associatedwith the plurality of VMs, the VMBIOS being configured to detect theboot list associated with the plurality of virtual functions; presentingthe detected boot list to a VM boot manager of the VMM utilizing theVMBIOS; and booting each of the plurality of virtual machines utilizingeach of the virtual functions, wherein each VF of the plurality of VFsis assigned to a VM of the plurality of VMs via an interconnectpassthrough between the VMM and the plurality of VMs, wherein each of aplurality of virtual disks (VDs) is mapped to a VF of the plurality ofvirtual functions utilizing the VM boot manager.

A method for virtual function boot in a system including a plurality ofmulti-root I/O virtualization (MR-IOV) servers, at least one MR-IOVswitch, and at least one storage adapter including at least one physicalfunction (PF) and configured to implement a plurality of virtualfunctions, each of the MR-IOV servers being communicatively coupled tothe at least one MR-IOV switch, the at least one storage adapter beingcommunicatively couplable to the at least one MR-IOV switch, isdisclosed. In one aspect, a method may include, but is not limited to,upon interconnection of the at least one storage adapter with the atleast one MR-IOV switch, loading a physical function (PF) driver of theat least one storage adapter onto the MR-IOV switch; creating aplurality of virtual functions (VFs) utilizing the PF driver on MR-IOVswitch; assigning each of the VFs to an MR-IOV server of the pluralityof MR-IOV servers; identifying each of the plurality of VFs as a virtualstorage adapter by the plurality of MR-IOV servers, wherein each MR-IOVserver identifies a VF as a virtual storage adapter; loading a UEFIdriver onto each of the VFs; obtaining a boot list associated with theplurality of virtual functions from firmware of the at least one storageadapter utilizing the UEFI driver loaded on each of the VFs, wherein theboot list is configured to associate each virtual function with acorresponding boot disk; and booting a plurality of boot disks utilizingeach of the VFs assigned to each of the MR-IOV servers utilizing theobtained boot list.

A system for virtual function boot in a SR-IOV environment is disclosed.In one aspect, a system may include, but is not limited to, asingle-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) server configured to implement aplurality of virtual machines (VMs) and a virtual machine manager (VMM);and a storage adapter including at least one physical function (PF),storage adapter configured to implement a plurality of virtualfunctions, the storage adapter being communicatively couplable to theSR-IOV enabled server via a PCIe slot of the SR-IOV enabled server,wherein, upon interconnection of the storage adapter with the SR-IOVenabled server, the storage adapter and the SR-IOV enabled server areconfigured to: load a PF driver of the PF of the storage adapter ontothe SR-IOV enabled server utilizing the virtual machine manager of theSR-IOV enable server; create a plurality of virtual functions utilizingthe PF driver; detect each of the plurality of virtual functions on aninterconnection bus utilizing the VMM; maintain a boot list associatedwith the plurality of virtual functions; query the storage adapter forthe boot list associated with the plurality of virtual functionsutilizing a VMBIOS associated with the plurality of VMs, the VMBIOSbeing configured to detect the boot list associated with the pluralityof virtual functions; present the detected boot list to a VM bootmanager of the VMM utilizing the VMBIOS; and boot each of the pluralityof virtual machines utilizing each of the virtual functions, whereineach VF of the plurality of VFs is assigned to a VM of the plurality ofVMs via an interconnect passthrough between the VMM and the plurality ofVMs, wherein each of a plurality of virtual disks (VDs) is mapped to aVF of the plurality of virtual functions utilizing the VM boot manager.

A system for virtual function boot in a MR-IOV environment is disclosed.In one aspect, a system may include, but is not limited to, at least oneMR-IOV switch; a plurality of multi-root I/O virtualization (MR-IOV)servers, each of the plurality of MR-IOV servers being communicativelycoupled to the MR-IOV switch via a PCIe link; and at least one storageadapter including at least one physical function (PF), the at least onestorage adapter configured to implement a plurality of virtualfunctions, the at least one storage adapter being communicativelycouplable to the at least one MR-IOV switch via a PCIe slot of theMR-IOV switch, wherein, upon interconnection of the at least one storageadapter with the at least one MR-IOV switch, the at least one storageadapter, the MR-IOV switch, and the plurality of MR-IOV servers areconfigured to: load a physical function (PF) driver of the at least onestorage adapter onto the MR-IOV switch; create plurality of virtualfunctions (VFs) utilizing the PF driver on MR-IOV switch; assign each ofthe VFs to an MR-IOV server of the plurality of MR-IOV servers; identifyeach of the plurality of VFs as a virtual storage adapter by theplurality of MR-IOV servers, wherein each MR-IOV server identifies a VFas a virtual storage adapter; load a UEFI driver onto each of the VFs;obtain a boot list associated with the plurality of virtual functionsfrom firmware of the at least one storage adapter utilizing the UEFIdriver loaded on each of the VFs, wherein the boot list is configured toassociate each virtual function with a corresponding boot disk; and boota plurality of boot disks utilizing each of the VFs assigned to each ofthe MR-IOV servers utilizing the obtained boot list.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The numerous advantages of the disclosure may be better understood bythose skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying figures inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram view of an SR-IOV virtualizationenvironment.

FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram view of a system suitable forvirtual function boot in a single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV)environment, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B illustrates a block diagram view of the kernel view of a systemsuitable for virtual function boot in a single-root I/O virtualization(SR-IOV) environment, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram view of a system suitable for virtualfunction boot in a multi-root I/O virtualization (MR-IOV) environment,in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram view of a system suitable for virtualfunction boot in a MR-IOV environment equipped with multi-nodeclustering capabilities, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram view of a system suitable for virtualfunction boot in a MR-IOV environment equipped with multi-level HAcapabilities, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram view of a system suitable for virtualfunction boot in a SR-IOV environment equipped with diagnostic messagingcapabilities, in accordance with a further embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram depicting a process for VF functionboot in a SR-IOV environment, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram depicting a process for VF functionboot in a MR-IOV environment, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not necessarily restrictive of the invention as claimed. Theaccompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a partof the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the general description, serve to explain the principlesof the invention. Reference will now be made in detail to the subjectmatter disclosed, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Referring generally to FIG. 1 through 8, systems and methods forphysical storage adapter virtual function booting in single-root andmulti-root I/O virtualization environments is described in accordancewith the present disclosure.

FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram view of a system 200 suitable forvirtual function boot in a single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV)environment, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.The system may include an SR-IOV enabled server 201 and a storageadapter 202 (e.g., MegaRAID controller). The present disclosure willfocus on an implementation of a MegaRAID controller 202. Those skilledin the art, however, should recognize that the concepts described in thepresent disclosure may be extended to include storage adapters otherthan MegaRAID controllers. As such, the description of MegaRAIDcontroller 202 should not be interpreted as a limitation but rathermerely as an illustration.

The SR-IOV enabled server 201 of the present invention may include anyserver known in the art capable of implementing SR-IOV. For instance,the SR-IOV enabled server 201 may include a VT-D enabled Intel® server.For example, the SR-IOV enabled server 201 may include, but is notlimited to, an Intel® Xenon® 5500 or 5600 server. Those skilled in theart should recognized that the SR-IOV enabled server 201 is not limitedto Intel or Xenon® based server technology, but, rather, the abovedescription should be interpreted merely as an illustration.

In one aspect, the SR-IOV enabled server 201 and the MegaRAID card 202are communicatively couplable via an interconnection bus. For example,the interconnection bus may include a PCI Express (PCIe) interconnectionbus 204 (e.g., PCI Express 2.0). In this manner, a user mayinsert/connect the MegaRAID card 202 in the PCIe server slot (not shown)of the SR-IOV enabled server 201, thereby establishing a communicationlink between the server 201 and physical function 208 of the MegaRAIDcard 202.

In one aspect, the SR-IOV enabled server 201 may be configured to hostmultiple virtual machines (VMs). For example, the SR-IOV enabled server201 may host a first VM 214 a, a second VM 214 b, a third VM, and up toand including an Nth VM 214 d. Further, the server 201 may be configuredto host a virtual machine manager (VMM) 206. For example, the server 201may host a hypervisor (e.g., Xen or KVM) configured to manage the VMs214 a-214 d. Throughout the present invention the terms “hypervisor” and“virtual machine manager (VMM)” will be used interchangeably. Thoseskilled in the art should recognize that a VMM and a hypervisor aregenerally known in the art to be equivalent. In a general sense, thoseskilled in the art should recognize that a hypervisor is softwareinstalled on a server utilized to run guest operating systems (i.e.,virtual machines) on the given server. In this manner, a hypervisor maybe installed on the SR-IOV enabled server 201 in order to manage the VMs214 a-214 d, wherein virtual functions of the system 200 are assignedand operated by the VMs 214 a-214 d, as will be discussed in greaterdetail further herein.

In another aspect, the MegaRAID controller 202 includes a physicalfunction (PF) 203. The PF 203 may be configured to implement a pluralityof virtual functions (VFs) on the MegaRAID controller 202. For example,virtual functions VF-1, VF-2, VF-3, and up to and including VF-N may beimplemented on MegaRAID controller 202.

FIG. 2B represents a block view diagram illustrating the kernel spaceview of the SR-IOV enabled server 201 following interconnection of theMegaRAID card 202 and the server 201 via the PCIe interconnect 204. Asshown in FIG. 2B, the VM Manager 206 includes a virtual disk VD-0, a PFdriver 223 loaded from the MegaRAID controller 202, a kernel 228, andsystem BIOS and/or UEFI 226. Each of the virtual machines includes avirtual disk, a virtual function driver, a virtual function, a kernel,and a VMBIOS. For example, virtual machine 214 a includes virtual diskVD-1, VF driver 222 a, virtual function VF1 218 a, kernel 224 a, andVMBIOS 216 a.

Upon interconnection of the MegaRAID card 201 with the SR-IOV enabledserver 201 via the PCIe slot of the server 201, the system 200 may bootfirmware of the SR-IOV enabled server 201. For example, the system 200may boot the BIOS or UEFI 226 of the SR-IOV server 201. Likewise, thesystem 200 may boot firmware of the MegaRAID controller 202. During theboot process of the SR-IOV enabled server 201 and the storage adapter202 firmware 226, the VM manager 206 (e.g., hypervisor) may identify thephysical function (PF) of the storage adapter 202 as the controller ofthe SR-IOV enabled server 201.

Following the firmware boot sequence, the VM Manager 206 may load a PFdriver 208 onto the SR-IOV enabled server 201. Applicant notes that FIG.2B illustrates the kernel level view of the SR-IOV enabled server 201following this PF driver 208 loading process. Further, the system 200may create a set of virtual functions 210 using the PF driver 208. Inthis sense, the PF driver 223 may enumerate the virtual functions of thestorage adapter 202 for use by the VM manager 206. As shown in FIG. 2A,the MegaRAID card 202 may host a first virtual function VF-1, a secondvirtual function VF-2, a third virtual function VF-3, and up to andincluding an Nth virtual function VF-N. It is contemplated herein thatthe creation and enumeration of the virtual functions 210 may depend ona variety of factors. These factors may include, but are not limited to,operational configuration of the VM manager 206 (i.e., the hypervisor)or hardware capabilities (e.g., SR-IOV enabled server capabilities) ofthe system 200.

In a further aspect, each of a set of virtual disks (VDs) 212 may beassigned to a virtual function of the storage adapter 202. For example,VD-0 may be assigned to VF-1, VD-1 may be assigned to VF-1, VD-2 may beassigned to VF-2, VD-3 may be assigned to VF-3, and VD-N may be assignedto VF-N, as shown in the logical view of storage adapter 202 of FIG. 2A.Further, the set of virtual disks 212 may create a RAID volume 218(e.g., DAS RAID). In this sense, an enclosure 220 of the system 200 mayhost one or more physical disks (e.g., HDDs or SSDs), as illustrated inFIG. 2A. Applicant notes that the physical disks of the enclosure 218are not necessarily the same in number as the number of VDs of the RAIDvolume. Those skilled in the art should recognize that multiple RAIDvolumes may be formed from a single disk. In a general sense, any numberof VDs may be created from any number of physical disks. As the focus ofthe present invention is on the VDs of the system 200, VD-0 . . . VD-Nare illustrated within the enclosure 118 in order to illustrate that theVDs of the RAID volume 118 are hosted on the physical disks of theenclosure 220. It should further be recognized that the DAS RAID 218 andthe storage adapter 202 may be communicatively coupled via aserial-attached-SCSI (SAS) interconnection bus 219.

Next, the VM manager 206 of the SR-IOV enabled server 201 may detecteach of the set of virtual functions on the PCIe bus 204. In thisregard, the VM manager 206 detects a given VF (e.g., VF-0 . . . VF-N) asa PCIe device. The storage adapter 202 may maintain and track boot datafor each of the virtual functions utilizing firmware running on thestorage adapter 202. In this regard, the storage adapter 202 maymaintain and track each virtual function boot data separately. As such,the storage adapter 202 may maintain a boot list associated with the setof virtual function 210.

It is noted herein that the virtual machines (i.e., guest domains) ofthe present invention (and in a general sense) do not include systemBIOS or UEFI to detect the boot drive. As such, the system 200 may beconfigured to automatically load and execute expansion VMBIOS whenever auser creates a new virtual machine. In this setting, when the boot diskis exposed then a BIOS emulation module of the VM manager 206 mayexecute the boot sequence. First, the BIOS emulation module may load thebootstrap from the boot disk via the BIOS. Once the OS loader is loadedthen a user may add a VF driver into OS. As such, the VF driver willhave full access to the associate disk.

In one aspect, the VMBIOS may query the storage adapter 202 for the bootlist associated with the set of virtual functions 210. For example, theVMBIOS (e.g., 216 a . . . 216 d) may query the firmware of storageadapter 202 for the boot list associated with the set of virtualfunctions. For example, in the case where first virtual function VF-1218 a queries the storage adapter firmware, the firmware may beconfigured to return boot data for VF-1 of 210. By way of anotherexample, in the case where the Nth virtual function VF-N 218 d queriesthe storage adapter firmware, the firmware may be configured to returnboot data for VF-N of 210.

In another aspect, the storage adapter 202 may be configured to maintainboot data in a manner to correlate a first virtual function VF-1 toVD-1, a second virtual function VF-2 to VD-2, and up to an Nth virtualfunction VF-N to VD-N. Applicant notes that the numbering schemedisclosed above is merely implemented for illustrative purposes andshould not be interpreted as a limitation on the present invention.

Further, the VMBIOS may be utilized to present the detected boot list toa VM boot manager of the VM manager 206. In turn, each of the set ofvirtual disks (e.g., VD-0 . . . VD-N) may be mapped to a specificvirtual function of the set of virtual functions utilizing the VM bootmanager of the VM manager 206.

In another aspect, the virtual functions may be utilized to boot each ofthe set of virtual machines 214 a . . . 214 d. For example, in terms ofthe kernel view of FIG. 2B, the virtual functions 218 a . . . 218 d maybe utilized to boot each of the set of virtual machines 214 a . . . 214d respectively. In this regard, each of the virtual functions 214 . . .214 d is assigned to a single virtual machine of the group 214 a . . .214 d via the PCIe passthrough 209. In this regard, when a user createsa given virtual machine and assigns a given virtual function as a PCIeresource to the given virtual machine the VM manager 206 may designatethe given virtual function for PCIe passthrough. It should be recognizedby those skilled in the art that PCIe passthrough may be managedutilizing the VM manager 206 (e.g., hypervisor).

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram view of a system 300 suitable forvirtual function boot in a MR-IOV environment, in accordance with afurther embodiment of the present invention. Applicant notes that unlessotherwise noted the features and components as described previouslyherein with respect to system 200 should be interpreted to extendthrough the remainder of the disclosure.

The system 300 may include a plurality of servers including a firstserver 314 a, a second server 314 b, and an up to an including an Nthserver 314 c. It should be recognized that standard server technology issuitable for implementation in the context of the MR-IOV environment ofthe present invention. In this sense, any suitable server technologyknown in the art may be implemented as one of the plurality of serversof the present invention.

In another aspect, the system 300 may include a storage adapter 302. Asin system 200, the storage adapter 302 may include a MegaRAID controller302. The adapter 302 may include a physical function 308, a plurality ofvirtual functions 310 (e.g., VF-1 . . . VF-N) and a correspondingplurality of virtual disks 312 (e.g., VD-1 . . . VD-N). In addition, thestorage adapter 302 may be coupled to a RAID volume 216 formed from amultiple physical disks (e.g., HDDs) of enclosure 318 via a SASconnection 319.

In another aspect, the system 300 may include a MR-IOV switch 304. TheMR-IOV switch 304 may include, but is not limited to, a PCIe switch 305.The PCIe switch 305 may include a plurality of ports P-1, P-2 and up toand including P-N.

In a further aspect, MegaRAID card 302 and the MR-IOV switch 304 arecommunicatively couplable via a interconnection bus. For example, theinterconnection bus may include a PCI Express (PCIe) interconnection bus(not shown) (e.g., PCI Express 2.0). In this manner, a user mayinsert/connect the MegaRAID card 302 in the PCIe server slot (not shown)of the MR-IOV switch 304, thereby establishing a communication linkbetween the MR-IOV switch 304 and physical function 308 of the MegaRAIDcard 302.

Further, each of the MR-IOV servers 314 a . . . 314 c and the MegaRAIDcard 302 are communicatively couplable via an interconnection link. Forexample, each server 314 a . . . 314 c may individually be coupled tothe MR-IOV switch 304 via an interconnection link (e.g., interconnectioncables). For example, the interconnection link may include a PCI Expresscable. In this regard, the MR-IOV switch 302 is configured to assigneach virtual function of the system 300 to a server (e.g., 314 a . . .314 c) through PCIe communication.

Upon interconnection of the storage adapter 302 with the MR-IOV switch304, a physical function driver of the storage adapter 302 may be loadedon the MR-IOV switch 304. Then, the PF driver loaded on the MR-IOVswitch may be utilized to create a plurality of virtual functions VF-1through VF-N. The MR-IOV switch 304 may then assign each of the virtualfunctions VF-1 . . . VF-N to an individual MR-IOV server 314 a . . . 314c.

It is noted herein that each of the MR-IOV servers 314 a . . . 314 c iscapable of booting with standard system BIOS/UEFI. The UEFI/BIOS of theMR-IOV servers 314 a . . . 314 c may identify each of the virtualfunctions VF-1 . . . VF-N as virtual adapters. In this manner, eachMR-IOV server identifies a single virtual function as a virtual storageadapter. Then, system UEFI/BIOS loads UEFI drivers (or Adapters optionROM) for the storage adapter 302.

Next, the UEFI driver (or Option ROM) may obtain a boot list associatedwith the plurality of virtual functions from firmware of the storageadapter 302. For example, the UEFI driver loaded on each of the virtualfunctions may be utilized to obtain a boot list from the firmware of thestorage adapter 302. The boot list is configured to associate eachvirtual function VF-1 . . . VF-N with a corresponding boot disk VD-1 . .. VD-N. In this manner, once a UEFI driver or Option ROM has been loadedon a virtual function, the virtual function may issue a command to thestorage adapter 302. Upon receiving the command, the storage adapter 302(via firmware) may determine the requesting virtual function and providethat virtual function with the associated boot disk information.Further, once a given disk is identified as a boot disk for a givenserver this disk is mark as the dedicated boot disk for this server.This information may be utilized in future queries.

In a further aspect, the boot manager of each of the MR-IOV servers 314a . . . 314 c may utilize the boot list to boot the plurality of bootdisks. In this manner, the boot manager may utilize the boot list andthe virtual functions VF-1 . . . VF-N assigned to each MR-IOV server 314a . . . 314 c to boot each of the plurality of disks VD-1 . . . VD-N.

It is recognized herein that once the kernel is loaded it may prompt fora kernel driver for a given virtual function. Once the OS loaded, the OSwill provide direct access to the boot disk information.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system 400 suitable for virtual function boot in aMR-IOV environment equipped with multi-node clustering capabilities, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The system 400is built on an architecture similar to that described with respect tosystem 200. As such, the components and features of system 200 should beinterpreted to extend to system 400. The system 400 includes a pluralityof servers 414 a . . . 414 c hosting a plurality of virtual machines 416a . . . 416 g, a MR-IOV switch 404 including a PCIe switch 405 withmultiple ports 406, a storage adapter (e.g., MegaRAID card 402) having aplurality of virtual functions 410 associated with a plurality ofvirtual disks 412.

In a further embodiment, the MR-IOV switch is configured to performmulti-node clustering using the single storage adapter 402. In thisregard, a first virtual function (e.g., VF-1) is assigned to a firstMR-IOV server (e.g., 414 a) and a second virtual function (e.g., VF-2)is assigned to a first MR-IOV server (e.g., 414 c) utilizing the MR-IOVswitch 404. It should be noted that the degree of clustering implementedby system 400 is not limited to two. Rather, it is only limited by thenumber of available virtual functions VF-1 . . . VF-N. As such, in ageneral sense, the system 400 may implement N-node clustering.

In this embodiment, all cluster volumes may represent shared volumes. Inthis regard, the volumes are only visible to predefined nodes. When agiven cluster is enabled all of the disks (e.g., LUN) are visible to allnodes of the cluster. For example, VD-1 may be visible to server-1 414 aand server-N 414 c, as shown in FIG. 4. Further, a virtual machine (VM)416 a may be created and assigned to VD-1 for storage in server-1 414 a.Prior to creation of VM 416 a, server-1 414 a may issue PERSISTENTRESERVE via the storage adapter 402 firmware and takes ownership of thisvolume. All of the operating system and associated data are then storedin VD-1 from VM 416 a. At the same time, VD-1 is also available toserver-N 414 c, however it does not have the ability to modify thearrangement as VD-1 has ownership of the volume. In the event a user isrequired to move VM 416 a from Server-1 to Server-N then a processperformed by Live Migration (Hyper-V) or vMotion (VMware) software maycarry out the transfer. Since the VD-1 contains the pertinentinformation, Live Migration or vMotion need only transfer ownership fromServer-1 to Server-N by issuing a RELEASE from Server-1 and RESERVE fromServer-N. It is noted herein that the process only transfers controlfrom server-1 to server-N. Migration of actual data from server-1 toserver-3 is not required.

FIG. 5 illustrates a system 500 suitable for virtual function boot in aMR-IOV environment equipped with multi-level HA capabilities, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The system 500includes a plurality of servers 514 a . . . 514 c hosting a plurality ofvirtual machines 516 a . . . 516 g. The system 500 further includes twoor more MR-IOV switches. For example, the system 500 may include MR-IOVswitch include a first PCIe switch 505 a with multiple ports 506 a and asecond PCIe switch 505 b with multiple ports 506 b. Further, the system500 may include multiple storage adapters. For example, the system 500may include a first storage adapter (e.g., MegaRAID card 502 a) having aplurality of virtual functions 510 a and a plurality of virtual disks512 a and a second storage adapter (e.g., MegaRAID card 502 b) having aplurality of virtual functions 510 b and a plurality of virtual disks512 b. Each adapter 502 a and 502 b may also include a physical function(PF) 508 a and 508 b respectively. Applicant notes that the presentembodiment is not limited to two storage adapters or two PCIe switches.In a general sense, the system 500 may be extended to N nodes and theillustration of two adapters operating in conjunction with two PCIeswitches has been utilized for purposes of simplicity.

In a further embodiment, the multiple PCIe switches (e.g., 505 a and 505b) are configured to perform N-node utilizing multiple storage adapters(e.g., 502 a and 502 b). In this manner, a first virtual function (e.g.,VF-1 of 510 a) may be assigned to a first MR-IOV server 514 a utilizingthe first PCIe switch 505 a. Further, a second virtual function (e.g.,VF-1 of 510 b) may be assigned to the first MR-IOV server 514 autilizing the second PCIe switch 505 b. This concept may be extended toall servers 514 a . . . 514 c with all virtual functions of all of thestorage adapters 502 a and 502 b of the system 500, as illustrated bythe dotted lines in FIG. 5.

This configuration allows the same RAID volume to appear twice in eachnode via the two assigned virtual functions. In turn, this allows formulti-path solution for multi-path redundancy. In this embodiment, thestorage adapters 502 a-502 b firmware may be configured to provideTPGS/ALUA (SCSI3) support. Further, one of the two volumes available toall servers is Active path, where as the second of the two volumes ispassive path. In this sense, it should be straightforward for themulti-path solution to identify which adapter is Active optimized andwhich adapter is Non-active optimized.

When a given RAID volume is “owned” by a given storage adapter (e.g.,502 a or 502 b), all of the associated virtual functions belonging tothe same controller will have an Active path. In a general sense, when apath is labeled as Active, I/O through that path will be optimized andmay deliver faster speeds than the non-active path.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram view of a system 600 suitable forvirtual function boot in a SR-IOV environment equipped with diagnosticmessaging capabilities, in accordance with a further embodiment of thepresent invention. The system 600 includes, but is not limited to, anSR-IOV enabled server 601 configured to host multiple virtual machines614 a-614 b and a storage adapter 602 (e.g., MegaRAID controller)communicatively couplable to the server 601 via a PCIe interconnect 604.Similarly to system 200 of FIG. 2A, system 600 also includes a set ofvirtual functions 610 and virtual disks 612 of the storage adapter(e.g., MegaRAID card 602). In addition, the system 600 includes a set ofvirtual machines 614 a-614 b hosted on the SR-IOV enabled server 601.Each virtual machine may include an application set (e.g., 616 a or 616b) and a kernel (e.g., 618 a or 618 b). Each kernel may include avirtual function driver (e.g., 620 a or 620 b).

It is recognized herein that a virtual function (VF) driver (e.g., 620 aor 620 b) may be configured to issue a status of the VF driver to aninterface the storage adapter 202. In turn, this issuance may allow thestorage adapter firmware to acknowledge the received status and forwardthe status to a PF driver 622 in the associated VM manager 606 (coupledto the adapter 602 via PCIe). In addition, it is further contemplatedherein that the storage adapter 602 may take action based on statusreceived from the VF driver 614 a-614 b. The PF driver 622 may furtherforward the status to a user interface suitable for user notification628. Alternatively, the PF driver 622 may forward the status to an errorhandler of the 624 of the VM manager 606.

In one embodiment, after detecting an event (or lack of an event), a VFdriver 614 a or 614 b may transmit a status signal 621 a or 621 b fromthe VF driver 614 a or 614 b to the storage adapter 602. For example,the status signal 621 a or 621 b may be indicative of a status of the VFdriver 614 a or 614 b. Further, the status signal 621 a or 621 b may bereceived from a VF driver by a corresponding VF function. For instance asignal 621 a transmitted by a first VF driver 614 a (representing the VFdriver of the VM associated with VF-1) may be received by VF-1 of thestorage adapter 602. Similarly, a signal 621 b transmitted by a fourthVF driver 614 b may be received by VF-4 of the storage adapter 202.Then, the storage adapter 202 may store information indicative of thestatus transmitted by the status signal 621 a or 621 b utilizing thestorage adapter firmware and a memory of the adapter 202.

Next, the storage adapter 202 may relay the original status bytransmitting a signal 623 indicative of the status to the PF driver 622in the VM manager 606.

Then, the PF driver 622 may relay the status by transmitting a signal625 to an error handler 624 of the VM manager 624. In this manner, theerror handler 624 may be pre-programmed by a user to implement aparticular course of action based on the information content of thesignal 625 received by the error handler 624. Alternatively, the PFdriver 22 may relay the status to a management tool 626 of the VMmanager 602 via signal 629. In turn, the management tool 626 maytransmit a user signal 627 to a user interface (not shown), wherein theuser signal is configured to trigger a pre-determined message (e.g.,textual message, audio message, video message) selected based on one ormore characteristics (e.g., information content related to status of VFdriver 614 a or 614 b) of the status signal 629 received by themanagement tool 626.

It is further contemplated herein that the above described diagnosticmessaging process may be extended to an MR-IOV environment. In thisregard, the storing of status information, error handling, atransmission of signals to a user interface may be handled by a MR-IOVswitch rather than a VM manager.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram depicting a process for VF functionboot in a SR-IOV environment, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. Step 702 may load a PF driver of the PF of thestorage adapter onto the SR-IOV enabled server utilizing the virtualmachine manager of the SR-IOV enable server. Step 704 may create aplurality of virtual functions utilizing the PF driver. Step 706 maymaintain a boot list associated with the plurality of virtual functions.Step 708 may detect each of the plurality of virtual functions on aninterconnection bus utilizing the VMM. Step 710 may query the storageadapter for the boot list associated with the plurality of virtualfunctions utilizing a VMBIOS associated with the plurality of VMs, theVMBIOS being configured to detect the boot list associated with theplurality of virtual functions. Step 712 may present the detected bootlist to a VM boot manager of the VMM utilizing the VMBIOS. Step 714 maybooting each of the plurality of virtual machines utilizing each of thevirtual functions, wherein each VF of the plurality of VFs is assignedto a VM of the plurality of VMs via an interconnect passthrough betweenthe VMM and the plurality of VMs, wherein each of a plurality of virtualdisks (VDs) is mapped to a VF of the plurality of virtual functionsutilizing the VM boot manager.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram depicting a process for VF functionboot in a MR-IOV environment, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. Step 802 may load a physical function (PF) driver ofthe at least one storage adapter onto the MR-IOV switch. Step 804 maycreate a plurality of virtual functions (VFs) utilizing the PF driver onMR-IOV switch. Step 806 may assign each of the VFs to an MR-IOV serverof the plurality of MR-IOV servers. Step 808 may identify each of theplurality of VFs as a virtual storage adapter by the plurality of MR-IOVservers, wherein each MR-IOV server identifies a VF as a virtual storageadapter. Step 810 may loading a UEFI driver onto each of the VFs. Step812 may obtain a boot list associated with the plurality of virtualfunctions from firmware of the at least one storage adapter utilizingthe UEFI driver loaded on each of the VFs, wherein the boot list isconfigured to associate each virtual function with a corresponding bootdisk. Step 814 may boot a plurality of boot disks utilizing each of theVFs assigned to each of the MR-IOV servers utilizing the obtained bootlist

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the arthas progressed to the point where there is little distinction leftbetween hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; theuse of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that incertain contexts the choice between hardware and software can becomesignificant) a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs.Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are variousvehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologiesdescribed herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/orfirmware), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context inwhich the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies aredeployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed andaccuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardwareand/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, theimplementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet againalternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware,software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles bywhich the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies describedherein may be effected, none of which is inherently superior to theother in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon thecontext in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns(e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the implementer, any ofwhich may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that opticalaspects of implementations will typically employ optically-orientedhardware, software, and or firmware.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such describeddevices and/or processes into data processing systems. That is, at leasta portion of the devices and/or processes described herein can beintegrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount ofexperimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that atypical data processing system generally includes one or more of asystem unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatileand non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one ormore interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and/or controlsystems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback forsensing position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/oradjusting components and/or quantities). A typical data processingsystem may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially availablecomponents, such as those typically found in datacomputing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interactingcomponents and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactablecomponents.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein.

Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by theappended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, ingeneral, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g.,bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms(e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but notlimited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having atleast,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but isnot limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those withinthe art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation isintended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and inthe absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example,as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may containusage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” tointroduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should notbe construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by theindefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containingsuch introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in generalsuch a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where aconvention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, ingeneral such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill inthe art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at leastone of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that haveA alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

Although particular embodiments of this invention have been illustrated,it is apparent that various modifications and embodiments of theinvention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the foregoing disclosure. Accordingly, the scopeof the invention should be limited only by the claims appended hereto.

It is believed that the present disclosure and many of its attendantadvantages will be understood by the foregoing description, and it willbe apparent that various changes may be made in the form, constructionand arrangement of the components without departing from the disclosedsubject matter or without sacrificing all of its material advantages.The form described is merely explanatory, and it is the intention of thefollowing claims to encompass and include such changes.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for virtual function boot in a systemincluding a single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) enabled serverconfigured to implement a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) and avirtual machine manager (VMM) and a storage adapter including at leastone physical function (PF) and configured to implement a plurality ofvirtual functions, wherein the SR-IOV enabled server and the physicalstorage adapter are communicatively couplable, comprising: uponinterconnection of the storage adapter with the SR-IOV enabled serverand boot of the SR-IOV enabled server and storage adapter, loading a PFdriver of the PF of the storage adapter onto the SR-IOV enabled serverutilizing the virtual machine manager of the SR-IOV enable server;creating a plurality of virtual functions utilizing the PF driver;detecting each of the plurality of virtual functions on aninterconnection bus utilizing the VMM; maintaining a boot listassociated with the plurality of virtual functions; querying the storageadapter for the boot list associated with the plurality of virtualfunctions utilizing a VMBIOS associated with the plurality of VMs, theVMBIOS being configured to detect the boot list associated with theplurality of virtual functions; presenting the detected boot list to aVM boot manager of the VMM utilizing the VMBIOS; and booting each of theplurality of virtual machines utilizing each of the virtual functions,wherein each VF of the plurality of VFs is assigned to a VM of theplurality of VMs via an interconnect passthrough between the VMM and theplurality of VMs, wherein each of a plurality of virtual disks (VDs) ismapped to a VF of the plurality of virtual functions utilizing the VMboot manager.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interconnection ofthe storage adapter with the SR-IOV enabled server and boot of theSR-IOV enabled server and storage adapter comprises: interconnecting thephysical storage adapter to the SR-IOV enabled server via theinterconnection bus; booting SR-IOV enabled server firmware and physicalstorage adapter firmware; and during SR-IOV enabled server firmware andphysical storage adapter firmware boot, identifying the physicalfunction of the physical storage adapter as a controller of the SR-IOVenabled server utilizing the virtual machine manager.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the maintaining a boot list associated with theplurality of virtual functions comprises: maintaining a boot listassociated with the plurality of virtual functions, wherein storageadapter firmware is configured to maintain and track boot data for eachvirtual function.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying thestorage adapter for the boot list associated with the plurality ofvirtual functions utilizing a VMBIOS associated with the plurality ofVMs comprises: querying the storage adapter firmware for the boot listassociated with the plurality of virtual functions utilizing a VMBIOSassociated with the plurality of VMs, the VMBIOS being configured todetect the boot list associated with the plurality of virtual functions.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage adapter comprises: aMegaRAID card.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interconnection buscomprises: a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe)interconnection bus.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theinterconnection passthrough comprises: a PCIe passthrough.
 8. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: providing a diagnostic messageindicative of a status of at least one virtual function drivers.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the providing a diagnostic message indicativeof a status of at least one virtual function drivers comprises:transmitting a status signal from the at least one virtual functiondriver to the storage adapter, the status signal being indicative of thestatus of the at least one virtual function driver; storing informationassociated with the status signal utilizing storage adapter firmware;relaying the status signal from the storage adapter to the PF driver inthe VM manager; relaying the status signal from the PF driver to atleast one of an error handler of the VM manager or management tool ofthe VM manager; and transmitting a user signal to a user interface fromthe management tool, wherein the user signal is configured to trigger apre-determined message selected based on a characteristic of the statussignal.
 10. A system for virtual function boot in a system comprising: asingle-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) server configured to implement aplurality of virtual machines (VMs) and a virtual machine manager (VMM);and a storage adapter including at least one physical function (PF),storage adapter configured to implement a plurality of virtualfunctions, the storage adapter being communicatively couplable to theSR-IOV enabled server via a PCIe slot of the SR-IOV enabled server,wherein, upon interconnection of the storage adapter with the SR-IOVenabled server, the storage adapter and the SR-IOV enabled server areconfigured to: load a PF driver of the PF of the storage adapter ontothe SR-IOV enabled server utilizing the virtual machine manager of theSR-IOV enable server; create a plurality of virtual functions utilizingthe PF driver; detect each of the plurality of virtual functions on aninterconnection bus utilizing the VMM; maintain a boot list associatedwith the plurality of virtual functions; query the storage adapter forthe boot list associated with the plurality of virtual functionsutilizing a VMBIOS associated with the plurality of VMs, the VMBIOSbeing configured to detect the boot list associated with the pluralityof virtual functions; present the detected boot list to a VM bootmanager of the VMM utilizing the VMBIOS; and boot each of the pluralityof virtual machines utilizing each of the virtual functions, whereineach VF of the plurality of VFs is assigned to a VM of the plurality ofVMs via an interconnect passthrough between the VMM and the plurality ofVMs, wherein each of a plurality of virtual disks (VDs) is mapped to aVF of the plurality of virtual functions utilizing the VM boot manager.11. The method of claim 19, wherein the storage adapter comprises: aMegaRAID card.